10 Korun 1919

Czechoslovakia declared independence in October 1918 and immediately faced the problem of separating its currency from the Austro-Hungarian krone before Vienna could flood the new state with depreciated paper. The solution — hastily stamping existing notes and then issuing new domestic series through the Ministry of Finance rather than a central bank — meant early Czech notes carried governmental rather than banking authority. This 10 Korun belongs to that first wave of sovereign issuance.

Alfons Mucha's involvement is the detail that stops collectors. By 1919 he was past his Parisian Art Nouveau peak and had returned to Bohemia consumed by his Slav Epic project — contributing to the new republic's banknote designs was, for him, a deliberate act of national commitment. A. Haase was a well-established Prague printing house capable of handling the work domestically without foreign contract.